Journey
by meltedliripip
Summary: She's always just been another one of the Weasley clan, but the start of her fourth year at Hogwarts clashes with the arrival of a story; "It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be." - And Dominique Weasley is trying to do just that - grow up and decide and discover what she is to become.
1. Prologue

My name is Dominique Weasley. That's right - I'm a Weasley... Before you get all excited and start wanting to ask me loads of questions about how my parents defeated the Dark Lord, can I PLEASE just point out that my parents are Bill and Fleur - they were barely involved at all! Well, I mean, they were a little, but when it comes down to it, the Golden Trio were really the impressive ones. Anyway, on with the show!

My first few years at Hogwarts were a bit of a blur. Sometimes I have flashbacks to that time, and my memories are always fond. I often think about my first night at Hogwarts. We sailed across the lake, as is customary for all first years, and I can remember looking up at the castle, completely mesmorized. The most impressive building I'd seen before this was the Potter Manor, and that was nowhere near as amazing as the castle – with some relatively new, reconstructed parts, the shine and glimmer perfectly complimented the old and fantastical parts of the building. And then had come the sorting – the fantastic feeling of being sorted into Gryffindor with Lucy, and the disappointment of Roxanne going into Ravenclaw. I made my first proper friend who wasn't family that night – Adrienne, who I shared a dormitory with for seven years, and her twin, Henry. Being a Weasley I fit in easily (much to my dismay, see lower down my ramble) – my older cousins, Teddy and Victoire told everyone to look out for me, as we all did for each other throughout our years at school, and everyone – not counting a couple of stuck up Slytherin kids – treated us with respect. The Weasleys in general were kind of a big deal; I guess you could say, at Hogwarts. Maybe it had something to do with Uncles Harry and Ron and Auntie Hermione saving wizard kind and all. Or perhaps our sheer good looks (just kidding). The anticipation from that night was only matched once more since – but that's for later.

Never having been the most academic of students, I spent the first three years of my school life getting to know the castle, my peers, and of course playing Quidditch. I made the house team, which I held for the rest of my time at Hogwarts and played attack - Chaser. That isn't much of a feat though - the House Team was dominated by my family, and I guess my the time I was my second year it was only really fitting that I should hold a position. Plus, Teddy Lupin, a non-blood cousin, plus Vic's boyfriend, was the Captain. It's not what you know, it's who you know! More importantly, I spent the first few years testing the limits and trying to get to know myself - I dyed my hair, got a ton of piercings and wore a lot of eye make up back then. By the time I'd reached my fourth year I lost all but five of the piercings, most of the eye liner and only the ends of my hair were the bizarre shade of pink. I really wanted to set myself aside from the crowd, but it was only later that I realised that I needn't have done all of this to be different... Again, I'm gonna save that for later. I need something to talk about later on into the story!

Before that, I'd lived in the Weasley bubble – everyone knew who we were, and being famous meant that my parents could afford to give us only the best. I guess I was quite a spoilt child, but nowhere near as bad as my sister, Victoire. Louis and I would often team up against her, after all, it was the only way we could ever get anything done. In short, my life pretty much began when I turned 14, so I'm gonna share my story with you!

Everyone has a 'story' - the main event that will make or break the rest of their life, and mine was long, drawn out over quite a few years, starting when I went into my fourth year at school. I'm not supposing you'll care that much about it or what I have to say, but I've always loved to write, and what do I know better than my own story? Here goes…

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**...guess who's back...back again...**

**That's right, it's meltedliripip :P It's been about a year since I packed up and left , but there I was, with a desperate need to put the Harry Potter story that had been plaguing me for weeks out into the interwebs, and before I knew it, here I am! **

**Personally, I've been desperatly in need of a good fanfiction and just can't find one (open to any suggestions)so I thought I'd write my own! Plus, it can't hurt to get a little practice in, right?**

**Next chapter should be up soon, 'til then, how's about a review? ;) **


	2. Chapter 1

The 1st of September had rolled around far too quickly and for the fourth time in my life, I found myself on Platform 9 ¾, preparing to board the Hogwarts Express and travel back to school, breathing in the fumes from the train, and straining my ears to hear my mother's farewell words over the very loud chatter of the various families seeing off their children for another year at school. And once again, my mother was on the verge of tears.

"And do NOT forget to write when you arrive! I will worry until you do," as my mother addressed us all, I couldn't help but notice that the French edge which had once resonated so clearly in her voice was no longer there. At all. I couldn't help but feel rather sad that such a strong part of Mama's heritage had completely disappeared, "Work hard and look after each other. Remember - family is the most important thing in the world."

Louis simply rolled his eyes at her, pulling her in for a hug as he did so. "Je t'aime tellement beaucoup, ma chérie" were her parting words before he ran off, probably in search of his friends.

It was only his second year at Hogwarts, but I guess that's what so great about the place – it had become as much of a home as Shell Cottage within such a short period of time.

As I gave my Daddy one last hug, and accepted a gruff, "Miss you already, sweetie", Victoire came rushing over, hair slightly out of place, holding hands with Teddy: "I just came to see her off", was the only explanation he could muster, faced with the thunderous expressions on both of my parents' faces. Whilst she distractedly glared at Vic, I kissed my mother on the cheek and then rushed off to find my friends – in particular the girl I had been missing all summer, my soul sister and best friend: Adrienne Baker.

I saw her raven black hair before I heard her call. Not a hair out of place, forever that amazing black colour, her hair was completely recognizable even from the 20 or so metres away I saw her. "Dom! Oh my god, Dom! Hey!" Ever the enthusiast, Adrienne pulled me in tight for a hug, kissing me on both cheeks, before taking a step back and holding me at arms' length. "You look so tanned! Your summer in California has done you wonders, you look incredible!"

I giggled, "It was amazing, let me tell you all about it." And so we fought our way through all of the families, all of the "goodbye"s and "love you"s until we reached the great red train and boarded the Hogwarts Express. Although I was excited to get back and see everyone, and to get back out onto the Quidditch pitch, I was just so pleased to see Adrienne in that moment that nothing else matter as we found a carriage and sat down, conversation immediately flowing, "You are so tanned, it suits you!"

"Oh thanks, hun, but so are you! You are so lucky; I've literally always wanted to go to California! I hear the boys there are… Cute to say the least." Adrienne launched into the story of her summer. This was customary, having been polite enough to address my holiday, she had to tell me all about hers – her latest conquests and crushes, the amazing meals she had had that summer, and most importantly, the latest gossip from school.

Soon my cousins, Roxanne and Lucy, joined us and a hugely long chat about our amazing summers started – the Weasley's huge family holiday in California, and the Bakers' to Malta. That is, until about three quarters of the way through the journey when a commotion was caused outside.

Adrienne had got the second to last week of her holiday, "It was amazing. We spent, like, two days on this boat off the coast, and it was magical. We went snorkelling and sunbathed and met some of my dad's business associates. There was this really really hot guy who came with them, on holiday with their son: Bradley. He…"

BANG. She was cut off by a loud noise outside, followed closely by loads of shouting. We jumped up, and my reflexes snapped into place, sending my hand to my wand, extracting it and pulling open the door. There was a mass of people surrounding a weedy guy from Ravenclaw, Simon, who was lying on the floor. Another group of guys, Simon's friends – the geeks – stood a little way off.

As I stepped out of our compartment, the crowd cleared, and Simon's friends pulled him up, before retracting to their own carriage. Left standing there were about five boys from my year, and right in the middle of them, laughing hysterically as Simon scurried off was Henry, Adrienne's twin, and complete douche of a twin brother.

"What the hell is going on?" were the first words that came to my mouth. I'd always had a huge amount of respect for Simon: he was one of those people who was completely comfortable with who he was, even if everybody else hadn't caught up with his maturity yet. Plus, he always let me copy off him in Transfiguration, my worst subject. Henry on the other hand, hadn't grown up as quickly as Simon.

He just smirked, "Nice to see you too, baby. Hope you had a nice summer. I missed you."

He was a jerk, for sure, but the summer had done him a world of good. Looking nothing like his sister, Henry was blonde and normally fair, but got just as much female attention as Adrienne did from males. The dark tan, which he had acquired over the summer, complimented his hair perfectly. Not to mention, he'd grown about 5 inches, and now stood comfortably above 6 foot. The Baker twins were too old – just – for our year, having a birthday in August, and Henry's physical maturity compared to the other boys standing around was evident.

"Just leave Simon alone, Henry. It's not big or cool to kick him around like that."

"Ah, whatever, Kiki. It's all fun and games. Si knows that," as his friends sniggered I took a step forward.

"I told you not to call me that."

From behind me, arms crossed, Adrienne piped up, "Come on, you guys, stop this. Henry, go back to being a jackass in your own compartment. Dom, just come back and tell us about California."

She and Henry had had a massive argument – she wouldn't say what about – on one of the last few weeks of their holidays, and so I really appreciated her sticking up for me like this, breaking the silent treatment for me.

"Sorry, _Dominique_," placing emphasis on my name, James was sure as hell making fun of me.

"What's going on here then?" As if by some sort of divine intervention, James appeared out of nowhere. James Sirius Potter, my favourite cousin, Head Boy and the probably most popular boy in school.

"We were just heading off," was all Henry could come up with before he and his cronies backed up into their own compartment. I think I already mentioned that the Weasleys looked out for each other (even if James was technically a Potter), and even the ever-confident Henry Baker was intimidated by the biggest and boldest in the family.

I turned back to James: "Thanks Cuz," leaning in for a hug, I took the moment to congratulate him, "Haven't seen you since the letters came out. Well done on Head Boy; can't say I saw that one coming."

He just laughed, "Mum and Dad were proud, considering they were both such trouble makers at school – a bit like me I guess. I think they're just glad that at least one of their kids could get a badge. It won't change anything though, I've got something up my sleeve for tonight!"

With one last squeeze and a wink, James carried on walking down the train, and I retreated to the compartment.

"As much as I love James, I'm never going to understand how he got to be Head Boy," it was Roxanne who voiced her scepticism, but the other girls all nodded.

As we slipped back into casual school conversation, the train rode nearer and nearer to school, and before I could register it, we were all sitting in the Great Hall, waiting for the new first years to arrive so that the Sorting Hat could once again place everyone into the correct Houses, leaving them to devour the sublime feasts which would soon be before them.

As the Sorting Hat began its song, I felt a nudge on the side which Roxanne was not sitting. In the flurry of catching up with everyone, I hadn't even noticed who was sitting next to me: Charlie Mclaggen, a boy in my year.

"Hey Dom," he whispered, "how was your summer?"

"Real good, thanks!" I replied, "How about yours?"

"Great thanks," he was smiling as he started telling me about his summer at home. I'd spoken to Charlie a few times before, but I'd never noticed what a nice guy he really was. Or what nice eyes he had. They so blue. Like pools of water. But then again, I hadn't really ever really gotten to know that many people at Hogwarts. The years were quite small, with about forty pupils in each, meaning that basically everyone in the school knew each other's names, whether you were friends or not. Because my family was so huge, I didn't really need any friends outside of them and Adrienne. Maybe I'd been doing that wrong – maybe I'd been missing out on some really good friends, purely because "family is the most important thing in the world." Charlie seemed like a really nice guy, and so I made it my new school year's resolution to broaden my social horizons.

As soon as the Sorting Hat song was over, the Head Mistress, Professor Abbott-Longbottom, stood up and opened her mouth to welcome us back. However, before she could, a huge noise filled the Hall, completely hushing the students. Fireworks filled the room, no doubt bought from Weasley Wizard Wheezes. That was the only place that sold such a huge array of every single coloured explosion there was. I took a peek down the table to where James was sitting – was this what he had had planned? You could never tell with him; his dead-pan was perfect. After a while, even the teachers stopped panicking and the food was served. It was the perfect way to welcome the new school year.

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**Yeah, I know, the end was a little silly... but I just wanted you to get the feeling that Hogwarts is no longer the dark place it was during the Wizarding War, and that James takes after his names sakes! So what did you think? Do you have any idea what's going to happen yet? **


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